MICHELAGNOLO BUONARROTI (1475-1564)
PAINTER, SCULPTOR, AND ARCHITECT OF FLORENCE
Part 7: The Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel

Vasari's Lives of the Artists

WHEN PEACE had been made, Baccio Valori, the Pope's Commissioner,
received orders to have some of the most partisan citizens arrested and
imprisoned in the Bargello, and the same tribunal sought out Michelagnolo
at his house; but he, fearing that, had fled secretly to the house of one
who was much his friend, where he remained hidden many days. Finally,
when the first fury had abated, Pope Clement, remembering the ability of
Michelagnolo, caused a diligent search to be made for him, with orders
that nothing should be said to him, but rather that his former appointments
should be restored to him, and that he should attend to the work
of S. Lorenzo, over which he placed as proveditor M. Giovan Battista
Figiovanni, the old servant of the Medici family and Prior of S. Lorenzo.
Thus reassured, Michelagnolo, in order to ma.ke Baccio Valori his friend,
began a figure of three braccia in marble, which was an Apollo drawing
an arrow from his quiver, and carried it almost to completion. It is now
in the apartment of the Prince of Florence, and is a very rare work,
although it is not completely finished.

At this time a certain gentleman was sent to Michelagnolo by Duke
Alfonso of Ferrara, who, having heard that the master had made some
rare work for him with his own hand, did not wish to lose such a jewel.
Having arrived in Florence and found Michelagnolo, the envoy presented
to him letters of recommendation from that lord; whereupon Michelagnolo,
receiving him courteously, showed him the Leda embracing the Swan that he had
painted, with Castor and Pollux issuing from the Egg, in a large picture
J2ie^ule^jn_ distemper as it were with the breath.
The Duke's envoy, thinking from the praise that he heard everywhere
of Michelagnolo that he should have done something great, and not recognizing
the excellence and artistry of that figure, said to Michelagnolo:
"Oh, this is but a trifle." Michelagnolo, knowing that no one is better
able to pronounce judgment on works than those who have had long practise in
them, asked him what was his vocation. And he answered, with a sneer, "I am a
merchant"; believing that he had not been recognized by Michelagnolo as a
gentleman, and as it were making fun of such a question, and at the same time
affecting to despise the industry of the Florentines. Michelagnolo, who had
understood perfectly the meaning of his words, at once replied: "You will
find you have made a bad bargain this time for your master. Get you gone
out of my sight."

Now in those days Antonio Mini, his disciple, who had two sisters
waiting to be married, asked him for the Leda, and he gave it to him
willingly, with the greater part of the designs and cartoons that he had
made, which were divine things, and also two chests full of models, with
a great number of finished cartoons for making pictures, and some of
works that had been painted. When Antonio took it into his head to
go to France, he carried all these with him; the Leda he sold to King
Francis by means of some merchants, and it is now at Fontainebleau,
but the cartoons and designs were lost, for he died there in a short time,
and some were stolen; and so our country was deprived of all these
valuable labors, which was an incalculable loss. The cartoon of the Leda
has since come back to Florence, and Bernardo Vecchietti has it; and
so also four pieces of the cartoons for the chapel, with nudes and Prophets,
brought back by the sculptor Benvenuto Cellini, and now in the possession
of the heirs of Girolamo degli Albizzi.

It became necessary for Michelagnolo to go to Rome to see Pope
Clement, who, although angry with him, yet, as the friend of every talent,
forgave him everything, and gave him orders that he should return to
Florence and have the library and sacristy of S. Lorenzo completely
finished; and, in order to shorten that work, a vast number of statues
that were to be included in it were distributed among other masters.
Two he allotted to Tribolo, one to Raffaello da Montelupo, and one to
Fra Giovanni Agnolo, the Servite friar, all sculptors; and he gave them
assistance in these, making rough models in clay for each of them.
Whereupon they all worked valiantly, and he, also, caused work to be pursued
on the library, and thus the ceiling was finished in carved woodwork,
which was executed after his models by the hands of the Florentines
Carota and Tasso, excellent carvers and also masters of carpentry; and
likewise the shelves for the books, which were executed at that time by
Battista del Cinque and his friend Ciappino, good masters in that pro-
fession. And in order to give the work its final perfection there was
summoned to Florence the divine Giovanni da Udine, who, together with
others his assistants and also some Florentine masters, decorated the
tribune with stucco; and they all sought with great solicitude to give
completion to that vast undertaking.

Now, just as Michelagnolo was about to have the statues carried
into execution, at that very time the Pope took it into his head to have
him near his person, being desirous to have the walls of the Chapel of
Sixtus painted, where Michelagnolo had painted the vaulting for Julius II,
his nephew. On the principal wall, where the altar is, Clement wished
him to paint the Universal Judgment to the end that he might display
in that scene all that the art of design could achieve, and opposite to it,
on the other wall, over the principal door, he had commanded that he
should depict the scene when Lucifer was expelled for his pride from
Heaven, and all those Angels who sinned with him were hurled after
him into the centre of Hell: of which inventions it was found that
Michelagnolo many years before had made various sketches and designs, one
of which was afterwards carried into execution in the Church of the
Trinita' at Rome by a Sicilian painter, who stayed many months with
Michelagnolo, to serve him and to grind his colors. This work, painted
in fresco, is in the Chapel of S. Gregorio, in the cross of the church, and,
although it is executed badly, there is a certain variety and terrible force
in the attitudes and groups of those nudes that are raining down from
Heaven, and of the others who, having fallen into the centre of the earth,
are changed into various forms of Devils, very horrible and bizarre; and
it is certainly an extraordinary fantasy. While Michelagnolo was
directing the preparation of the designs and cartoons of the Last Judgment
on the first wall, he never ceased for a single day to be at strife
with the agents of the Duke of Urbino, by whom he was accused of
having received sixteen thousand crowns from Julius II for the tomb.
This accusation was more than he could bear, and he desired to finish the
work some day, although he was already an old man, and he would have
willingly stayed in Rome to finish it, now that he had found, without
seeking it, such a pretext for not returning any more to Florence, since
he had a great fear of Duke Alessandro de' Medici, whom he regarded as
little his friend; for, when the Duke had given him to understand through
Signor Alessandro Vitelli that he should select the best site for the building
of the castle and citadel of Florence, he answered that he would not go
save at the command of Pope Clement.

Finally an agreement was formed in the matter of the tomb, that
it should be finished in the following manner: there was no longer to be
an isolated tomb in a rectangular shape, but only one of the original
fa9ades, in the manner 'that best pleased Michelagnolo, and he was to
be obliged to place in it six statues by his own hand. In this contract
that was made with the Duke of Urbino, his Excellency consented that
Michelagnolo should be at the disposal of Pope Clement for four months
in the year, either in Florence or wherever he might think fit to employ
him. But, although it seemed to Michelagnolo that at last he had obtained
some peace, he was not to be quit of it so easily, for Pope Clement,
desiring to see the final proof of the force of his art, kept him occupied
with the cartoon of the Judgment. However, contriving to convince the
Pope that he was thus engaged, at the same time he kept working in
secret, never relaxing his efforts, at the statues that were going into the
above-named tomb.

In the year 1533* [* 1534-] came the death of Pope Clement, whereupon
the work of the library and sacristy in Florence, which had remained unfinished
in spite of all the efforts made to finish it, was stopped. Then, at length,
Michelagnolo thought to be truly free and able to give his attention to
finishing the tomb of Julius II. But Paul III, not long after his election,
had him summoned to his presence, and, besides paying him compliments and
making him offers, requested him to enter his service and remain near his
person. Michelagnolo refused, saying that he was not able to do it, being
bound by contract to the Duke of Urbino until the tomb of Julius should
be finished. The Pope flew into a rage and said: "I have had this desire
for thirty years, and now that I am Pope do you think I shall not satisfy
it? I shall tear up the contract, for I am determined to have you serve me,
come what may."

Michelagnolo, hearing this resolution, was tempted to leave Rome and in
some way find means to give completion to the tomb; however, fearing, like
a wise man, the power of the Pope, he resolved to try to keep him pacified with
words, seeing that he was so old, until something should happen. The
Pope, who wished to have some extraordinary work executed by Michelagnolo,
went one day with ten Cardinals to visit him at his house, where he
demanded to see all the statues for the tomb of Julius, which appeared
to him marvellous, and particularly the Moses, which figure alone was said
by the Cardinal of Mantua to be enough to do honor to Pope Julius.
And after seeing the designs and cartoons that he was preparing for the
wall of the chapel, which appeared to the Pope to be stupendous, he
again besought Michelagnolo with great insistence that he should enter
his service, promising that he would persuade the Duke of Urbino to
content himself with three statues, and that the others should be given
to other excellent masters to execute after his models.

Whereupon, his Holiness having arranged this with the agents of the Duke,
a new contract was made, which was confirmed by the Duke; and Michelagnolo
of his own free will bound himself to pay for the other three statues and to
have the tomb erected, depositing for this purpose in the bank of the
Strozzi one thousand five hundred and eighty ducats. This he might
have avoided, and it seemed to him that he had truly done enough to
be free of such a long and troublesome undertaking; and afterwards he
caused the tomb to be erected in S. Pietro in Vincola in the following
manner. He erected the lower base, which was all carved, with four
pedestals which projected outwards as much as was necessary to give
space for the captive that was originally intended to stand on each of
them, instead of which there was left a terminal figure; and since the
lower part had thus a poor effect, he placed at the feet of each terminal
figure a reversed console resting on the pedestal. Those four teiminal
figures had between them three niches, two of which (those at the sides)
were round, and were to have contained the Victories. Instead of the
Victories, he placed in one Leah, the daughter of Laban, to represent the
Active Life, with a mirror in her hand to signify the consideration that
we should give to our actions, and in the other hand a garland of flowers,
to denote the virtues that adorn our life during its duration, and make it
glorious after death; and the other figure was her sister Rachel,
representing the Contemplative Life, with the hands clasped and one
knee bent, and on the countenance a look as of ecstasy of spirit.

IThese statues Michelagnolo executed with his own hand in less than a year.
In the center is the other niche, rectangular in shape, which in the original
design was to have been one of the doors that were to lead into the little
oval temple of the rectangular tomb; this having become a niche, there
is placed in it, upon a dado of marble, the gigantic and most beautiful
statue of Moses, of which we have already said enough. Above the heads
of the terminal figures, which form capitals, are architrave, frieze, and
cornice, which project beyond those figures and are carved with rich
ornaments, foliage, ovoli, dentils, and other rich members, distributed over
the whole work. Over that cornice rises another course, smooth and
without carvings, but with different terminal figures standing directly
above those below, after the manner of pilasters, with a variety of
cornice members; and since this course accompanies that below and resembles
it in every part, there is in it a space similar to the other, forming a
niche like that in which there is now the Moses, and in the niche, resting
on projections of the cornice, is a sarcophagus of marble with the
recumbent statue of Pope Julius, executed by the sculptor Maso dal Bosco,
while in that niche, also, there stands a Madonna who is holding her
Son in her arms, wrought by the sculptor Scherano da Settignano from
a model by Michelagnolo; which statues are passing good. In two other
rectangular niches, above the Active and the Contemplative Life, are two
larger statues, a Prophet and a Sibyl seated, which were both executed
by Raffaello da Montelupo, as has been related in the Life of his father
Baccio, but little to the satisfaction of Michelagnolo. For its crowning
completion this work had a different cornice, which, like those below,
projected over the whole work; and above the terminal figures, as a finish,
were candelabra of marble, with the arms of Pope Julius in the centre.
Above the Prophet and the Sibyl, in the recess of each niche, he made a
window for the convenience of the friars who officiate in that church,
the choir having been made behind; which windows serve to send their
voices into the church when they say the divine office, and permit the
celebration to be seen. Truly this whole work has turned out very
well, but not by a great measure as it had been planned in the original design.

IMichelagnolo resolved, since he could not do otherwise, to serve Pope
Paul, who allowed him to continue the work as ordered by Clement,
without changing anything in the inventions and the general conception
that had been laid before him, thus showing respect for the genius of that
great man, for whom he felt such reverence and love that he sought to
do nothing but what pleased him; of which a proof was soon seen. His
Holiness desired to place his own arms beneath the Jonas in the chapel,
where those of Pope Julius II had previously been put; but Michelagnolo,
being asked to do this, and not wishing to do a wrong to Julius and Clement,
would not place them there, saying that they would not look well; and
the Pope, in order not to displease him, was content to have it so, having
recognized very well the excellence of such a man, and how he always
followed what was just and honorable without any adulation or respect
of persons a thing that the great are wont to experience very seldom.
Michelagnolo, then, caused a projection of well baked and chosen bricks
to be carefully built on the wall of the above-named chapel (a thing which
was not there before), and contrived that it should overhang half a braccio
from above, so that neither dust nor any other dirt might be able to settle
upon it.

But I will not go into the particulars of the invention and composition
of this scene, because so many copies of it, both large and small,
have been printed, that it does not seem necessary to lose time in
describing it. It is enough for us to perceive that the intention of this
extraordinary man has been to refuse to paint anything but the human
body in its best proportioned and most perfect forms and in the greatest
variety of attitudes, and not this only, but likewise the play of the
passions and contentments of the soul, being satisfied with justifying
himself in that field in which he was superior to all his fellow-craftsmen,
and to lay open the way of the grand manner in the painting of nudes, and
his great knowledge in the difficulties of design; and, finally, he opened
the way to facility in this art in its principal province, which is the human
body, and, attending to this single object, he left on one side the charms
of colouring and the caprices and new fantasies of certain minute and
delicate refinements which many other painters, perhaps not without
some show of reason, have not entirely neglected. For some, not so well
grounded in design, have sought with variety of tints and shades of
coloring, with various new and bizarre inventions, and, in short, with the
other method, to win themselves a place among the first masters; but
Michelagnolo, standing always firmly rooted in his profound knowledge
of art, has shown to those who know enough how they should attain to perfection.

But to return to the story: Michelagnolo had already carried to
completion more than three-fourths of the work, when Pope Paul went to
see it. And Messer Biagio da Cesena, the master of ceremonies, a person
of great propriety, who was in the chapel with the Pope, being asked
what he thought of it, said that it was a very disgraceful thing to have
made in so honorable a place all those nude figures showing their
nakedness so shamelessly, and that it was a work not for the chapel of a Pope,
but for a bagnio or tavern. Michelagnolo was displeased at this, and,
wishing to revenge himself, as soon as Biagio had departed he portrayed
him from life, without having him before his eyes at all, in the figure
of Minos with a great serpent twisted round the legs, among a heap
of Devils in Hell; nor was Messer Biagio's pleading with the Pope
and with Michelagnolo to have it removed of any avail, for it was
left there in memory of the occasion, and it is still to be seen at the
present day.

IIt happened at this time that Michelagnolo fell no small distance
from the staging of this work, and hurt his leg; and in his pain and
anger he would not be treated by anyone. Now there was living at
this same time the Florentine Maestro Baccio Rontini, his friend, an
ingenious physician, who had a great affection for his genius; and he,
taking compassion on him, went one day to knock at his door. Receiving
no answer either from the neighbours or from him, he so contrived to
climb by certain secret ways from one room to another, that he came to
Michelagnolo, who was in a desperate state. And then Maestro Biagio
would never abandon him or take himself off until he was cured.

Having recovered from this injury, he returned to his labor, and,
working at it continually, he carried it to perfect completion in a few
months, giving such force to the paintings in the work, that he justified
the words of Dante

Morti li morti, i vivi parean vivi.

And here, also, may be seen the misery of the damned and the joy of the
blessed. Wherefore, when this Judgment was thrown open to view,
it proved that he had not only vanquished all the earlier masters who
had worked there, but had sought to surpass the vaulting that he himself
had made so famous, excelling it by a great measure and outstripping his
own self. For he imagined to himself the terror of those days, and
depicted, for the greater pain of all who have not lived well, the whole
Passion of Christ, causing various naked figures in the air to carry the
Cross, the Column, the Lance, the Sponge, the Nails, and the Crown of
Thorns, all in different attitudes, executed to perfection in a triumph of
facility over their difficulties. In that scene is Christ seated, with a
countenance proud and terrible, turning towards the damned and cursing
them; not without great fear in Our Lady, who, hearing and beholding
that vast havoc, draws her mantle close around her. There are
innumerable figures, Prophets and Apostles, that form a circle about Him, and
in particular Adam and S. Peter, who are believed to have been placed
there, one as the first parent of those thus brought to judgment, and the
other as having been the first foundation of the Christian Church ; and at
His feet is a most beautiful S. Bartholomew, who is displaying his flayed
skin. There is likewise a nude figure of S. Laurence; besides which,
there are multitudes of Saints without number, both male and female,
and other figures, men and women, around Him, near or distant, who
embrace one another and make rejoicing, having received eternal blessed-
ness by the grace of God and as the reward of their works.

IBeneath the feet of Christ are the Seven Angels with the Seven Trumpets
by S. John the Evangelist, who, as they sound the call to judgment, cause
the hair of all who behold them to stand on end at the terrible wrath that
their countenances reveal. Among others are two Angels that have
each the Book of Life in the hands: and near them, on one side, not
without beautiful consideration, are seen the Seven Mortal Sins in the
forms of Devils, assailing and striving to drag down to Hell the souls that
are flying towards Heaven, all with very beautiful attitudes and most
admirable foreshortenings. Nor did he hesitate to show to the world,
in the resurrection of the dead, how they take to themselves flesh and
bones once more from the same earth, and how, assisted by others already
alive, they go soaring towards Heaven, whence succour is brought to them
by certain souls already blessed; not without evidence of all those marks
of consideration that could be thought to be required in so great a work.
For studies and labours of every kind were executed by him, which may
be recognized throughout the whole work without exception; and this is
manifested with particular clearness in the barque of Charon, who, in an
attitude of fury, strikes with his oars at the souls dragged down by the
Devils into the barque, after the likeness of the picture that the master's
best-beloved poet, Dante, described when he said

INor would it be possible to imagine how much variety there is in
the heads of those Devils, which are truly monsters from Hell. In the
sinners may be seen sin and the fear of eternal damnation; and, to say
nothing of the beauty of every detail, it is extraordinary to see so great
a work executed with such harmony of painting, that it appears as if done
in one day, and with such finish as was never achieved in any miniature.
And, of a truth, the terrible force and grandeur of the work, with the
multitude of figures, are such that it is not possible to describe it, for it is
filled with all the passions known to human creatures, and all expressed
in the most marvellous manner. For the proud, the envious, the avari-
cious, the wanton, and all the other suchlike sinners can be distinguished
with ease by any man of fine perception, because in figuring them Michel-
agnolo observed every rule of Nature in the expressions, in the attitudes,
and in every other natural circumstance; a thing which, although great
and marvellous, was not impossible to such a man, for the reason that he
was always observant and shrewd and had seen men in plenty, and had
acquired by commerce with the world that knowledge that philosophers
gain from cogitation and from writings. Wherefore he who has judgment
and understanding in painting perceives there the most terrible force of
art, and sees in those figures such thoughts and passions as were never
painted by any other but Michelagnolo. So, also, he may see there how
the variety of innumerable attitudes is accomplished, in the strange and
diverse gestures of young and old, male and female; and who is there who
does not recognize in these the terrible power of his art, together with
the grace that he had from Nature, since they move the hearts not only
of those who have knowledge in that profession, but even of those who
have none ? There are foreshortenings that appear as if in relief, a harmony
of painting that gives great softness, and fineness in the parts painted
by him with delicacy, all showing in truth how pictures executed by good
and true painters should be; and in the outlines of the forms turned by
him in such a way as could not have been achieved by any other but
Michelagnolo, may be seen the true Judgment and the true Damnation
and Resurrection.

This is for our art the exemplar and the grand manner of painting
sent down to men on earth by God, to the end that they may
see how Destiny works when intellects descend from the heights of
Heaven to earth, and have infused in them divine grace and knowledge.
This work leads after it bound in chains those who persuade themselves
that they have mastered art; and at the sight of the strokes drawn by
him in the outlines of no matter what figure, every sublime spirit, however
mighty in design, trembles and is afraid. And while the eyes gaze at his
labours in this work, the senses are numbed at the mere thought of what
manner of things all other pictures, those painted and those still
unpainted, would appear if placed in comparison with such perfection.
Truly blessed may he be called, and blessed his memories, who has seen
this truly stupendous marvel of our age ! Most happy and most fortunate
Paul III, in that God granted that under thy protection should be
acquired the renown that the pens of writers shall give to his memory
and thine ! How highly are thy merits enhanced by his genius ! And
what good fortune have the craftsmen had in this age from his birth, in
that they have seen the veil of every difficulty torn away, and have beheld
in the pictures, sculptures, and architectural works executed by him all
that can be imagined and achieved!

He toiled eight years over executing this work, and threw it open to
view in the year J5i, I believe, on Christmas day, to the marvel and
amazement of all Rome, nay, of the whole world; and I, who was that
year in Venice, and went to Rome to see it, was struck dumb by its beauty,
Pope Paul, as has been related, had caused a chapel called the Pauline to
be erected on the same floor by Antonio da San Gallo, in imitation of that
of Nicholas V; and in this he resolved that Michelagnolo should paint two
great pictures with two large scenes. In one he painted the Conversion of
S. Paul, with Jesus Christ in the air and a multitude of nude Angels making
most beautiful movements, and below, all dazed and terrified, Paul fallen
from his horse to the level of the ground, with his soldiers about him,
some striving to raise him up, and others, struck with awe by the voice and
splendour of Christ, are flying in beautiful attitudes and marvellous
movements of panic, while the horse, taking to flight, appears to be
carrying away in its headlong course him who seeks to hold it back; and
this whole scene is executed with extraordinary design and art. In the
other picture is the Crucifixion of S. Peter, who is fixed, a nude figure
of rare beauty, upon the cross; showing the ministers of the crucifixion,
after they have made a hole in the ground, seeking to raise the cross on high,
to the end that he may remain crucified with his feet in the air; and there
are many remarkable and beautiful considerations. Michelagnolo, as has
been said elsewhere, gave his attention only to the perfection of art,
and therefore there are no landscapes to be seen there, nor trees, nor
buildings, nor any other distracting graces of art, for to these he never
applied himself, as one, perchance, who would not abase his great genius
to such things. These, executed by him at the age of seventy-five, were
his last pictures, and, as he used himself to tell me, they cost him
much fatigue, for the reason that painting, and particularly working in
fresco, is no art for men who have passed a certain age. Michelagnolo
arranged that Perino del Vaga, a very excellent painter, should decorate
the vaulting with stucco and with many things in painting, after his
designs, and such, also, was the wish of Pope Paul III but the work was
afterwards delayed, and nothing more was done, even as many undertakings
are left unfinished, partly by the fault of want of resolution in the
craftsmen, and partly by that of Princes little zealous in urging them on.